Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Woke up around 5:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. This time I actually did cry, big, shuddering, quiet sobs, for the sadness of leaving this beautiful family. They have a togetherness I envy, and I'm sure many of my friends would envy as well. It's a state of mind more than just a physical presence, and it's a family bigger than just the immediate blood relatives. Quite beautiful and hard for me to describe more at the moment...

I had so many fears coming here - that I'd feel bored or lonely, that I'd get sick, that they'd get tired of me, but it was all for naught. I've felt so welcomed, supported, taken care of and happy here. It was a true break that I so needed to refresh and recharge, and I've learned so much more than just a language.

And while my Spanish isn't fluent, it's much much much better, and I've found myself in the last few days speaking whole sentences without pausing to think. Not sure how correct those sentences were, but that was the moment I kept hoping would happen. Hooray! Now I just need to continue when I get home!

I'll be happy to see my husband and family again after 2 months, even if they did go by quickly - my heart is just broken that Barranquilla and Iowa are so far apart.

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Welcome to My Travel Blog!

November 2010 - I returned to Colombia for a two week visit and went to Medallin for the first time.

From February - March of 2008, I spent two months in beautiful Barranquilla Colombia, studying Spanish at Universidad Del Norte and by immersion.

My husband was born there, and I stayed with his awesome family. Ever since we met I have wanted to improve my Spanish from the few words and phrases I remembered from High School to actual fluency so I can talk with his family, and so I could understand any of our future bilingual kids. ;-)

I've used this blog the few times I've been to Colombia before, so the older entries have a lot of my raw first impressions of the country (or at least the parts I visited.) I will probably use it again when I go back to visit, as I'm sure I will!